1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wearable monitoring apparatus and a driving method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the development of medical technology, the average lifespan of a human has increased. Meanwhile, the number of persons suffering pain due to a chronic disease has also increased. An important factor of chronic disease is that the faster a disease is discovered and managed, the better chance a person has at recuperation. Accordingly, a medical industry highlights to rapidly search and continuously manage the chronic disease for preventing the condition of the chronic disease from growing worse.
A cardiovascular disease is a representative example of the chronic disease. In order to monitor irregularly occurring arrhythmia, a patient's electrocardiogram (ECG) should be monitored all day and night. To do this, when a conventional Holter monitor is used, a patient should carry a tester in state that an electrode with a plurality of lines is adhered to a body. Owing to this, a conventional monitoring apparatus has various problems. For example, because the patient should carry a wire of plural strands all day, he or she feels a globus syndrome that results in discomfort. Upon using the Holter monitor, because a wet electrode is adhered in most cases, as time goes by, a skin disease can occur in a patient due to stimulation of the skin. This is a problem inconsistent with an original object of a device for continuously sensing a biological signal throughout an individual's daily life in order to monitor a patient's healthy state. In addition to the Holter monitor, a walk blood pressure tester makes a patient feel a globus syndrome.
In order to solve such problems, various technologies have been developed. A health management system known as “Toumaz Technology” is one such example of the technology. The health management system includes a wireless adhesive plaster type ECG patch and a monitoring data collecting unit for collecting data in a terminal such as a portable phone. A main disadvantage of the health management system is that the wireless adhesive plaster type ECG patch needs a separate power supply (battery or the like). In this case, since a patient must continue to live and carry on his daily routine with the battery adhered to the skin, when the patient sweats during a continuous monitoring procedure, a chemical reaction occurs which may potentially cause a safety problem.
Moreover, the wireless adhesive plaster type ECG patch and the monitoring data collecting unit communicate with each other based on a wireless communication using a radio frequency. Such a wireless communication can induce physiological interference and infringement danger. However, because security and reliance are of utmost importance in characteristics of a device having to monitor a biological signal, a conventional approach using wireless communication is significantly dangerous.